He is currently hot property in Hollywood following the critical and commercial success of crime drama The Town. Now Ben Affleck has been approached to direct a hostage drama set during the Iranian revolution.

Based on a Wired magazine article titled How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran, the project is a political thriller with elements of wry humour, according to the Hollywood Reporter. It will portray an elaborate attempt by US and Canadian operatives to rescue six American diplomats who were trapped in the occupied US embassy following the fall of the Shah in 1979.

The US citizens were successfully extracted after the CIA concocted a scenario in which they were members of a Hollywood film crew scouting for a movie titled Argo. With help from a disguise expert, the rescue was a success and the diplomats were able to leave the country. Movie designs and drawings developed for a real project by legendary comic artist Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America and The X-Men, were used by the CIA to convince Iranians that the film really did exist. Chris Terrio has adapted Joshuah Bearman's 2007 article on the subject.

The 1979 Iran hostage crisis saw 52 US citizens held for 444 days from 4 November 1979 to 20 January 1981, after a group of Islamic students and militants took over the US embassy in support of the Iranian revolution.

Starring Affleck himself alongside Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Jeremy Renner, The Town topped the US box office in September and has so far made more than $140m (£87m) on a budget of just $37m. It was Affleck's second film following 2008's Gone Baby Gone, also crime-oriented and also a critical success.